


I Run, You Chase

by notvelma



Series: The Howard Family [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: M/M, Police
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-15
Updated: 2012-10-15
Packaged: 2017-11-16 08:59:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/537731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/notvelma/pseuds/notvelma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gary Thurston has always been Mr. Drunk and Disorderly on Friday nights, and Hank Howard is always the cop that's there to arrest him. But is a lifetime of crime really the best way to get the attention of a handsome police officer? Or is Gary going to have to start using his charm to get Hank interested in him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Run, You Chase

_Friday, May 4_

Gary Thurston was no stranger to sirens and flashing blue lights. In fact, he was used to the sights and sounds associated with law enforcement because he heard them on a regular basis. He considered his weekend a failure if the cops were not called at least once. He knew the local police force by name and some of the cops even joked with him about saving a seat in the holding cell just for him.

He also knew the cops were coming to pick him up – the bouncer had told him as much when he'd kicked Gary out of the bar in the first place – which was why Gary had been sitting on the ground out behind the bar in anticipation of their arrival. He had no fear or animosity toward any of the police officers, and in fact there was one cop in particular that he looked forward to seeing.

As Gary looked up from his spot on the cold, wet ground, he found himself looking into the blue eyes of Sergeant Hank Howard, the one police officer that Gary could not get enough of. Hank stood above him, arms crossed over his chest as he looked down, eyebrows raised in amusement. 

"Isn't your ass wet from sitting in that puddle, Gary?" asked Hank.

So that was why the ground was so wet underneath him. 

Hank just smirked at Gary, not even thinking to offer a hand to help Gary to his feet. The smirk on his perfect face was the worst part, though, because it was like he found Gary's predicament utterly hilarious. Hank would be the one to laugh at somebody else's misfortune like that. 

Sighing, Gary tried to push himself up but found his legs to be a little wobbly and he quickly dropped back on his ass into the same fucking puddle. "This time I didn't even do anything, so I don't know why they called you," he insisted, making another attempt to get to his feet. This try went well enough, though he had to brace himself against the building's brick wall as he waited for his head to stop spinning so much. Damn, maybe he shouldn't have had those last couple of shots. 

Hank grinned full-on this time, showing his perfect straight teeth. He ran his hand through his hair – and wow if that gesture didn't just make something flip in Gary's stomach. "Right, of course you didn't do anything. But I get a call for a drunk and disorderly at The Cave," he said, gesturing to the building Gary was leaning on, "and it's not even eleven thirty at night and I show up to find you sitting here in a puddle with bloody knuckles. You wanna tell me what the hell did happen, if you didn't do anything, Gary?" He crossed his arms over his broad chest, still looking down at Gary even though both men were standing. 

Before he'd met Hank, Gary had considered himself a pretty big guy; he was six foot two and weighed a little over two hundred pounds. He didn't work out a lot, but his job required a lot of heavy lifting, so he had a pretty nice set of muscles going. Compared to Hank, though? Gary was not the behemoth he imagined himself to be. Hank Howard was six foot five and probably weighed close to three hundred pounds, most of which was muscle. The police officer was built like a fucking steamroller. 

The police uniform he wore fit Hank's thick body real nicely, with the way the shirt stretched tightly across his chest, the way his muscular arms looked ready to burst out of the short sleeves, and of course the way the utility belt was slung low across his hips. The dark blue color really brought out Hank's blue eyes, but Gary's gaze was drawn instead to the shiny buckle – or at least that was the excuse he'd give for why his eyes were fixed on Hank's crotch. 

"You look like a dork in that uniform," he told Hank when he finally managed to tear his eyes away. "What's the matter, couldn't they find one that would actually fit you?" Gary tried to subtly adjust his pants to conceal the slight problem that had arisen during his slow perusal of Hank's body, but judging by the knowing look on Hank's face, his attempt at subtlety was not working. He ran his hand through his hair instead, trying to act casual. "I'm not even that drunk," he added. 

"Right," said Hank. "Of course you aren't drunk! Then would you like to tell me why Sober Gary's hand is bleeding and his pants are soaked through? And maybe tell me why the fuck you smell like you took a bath in whiskey?" The expression on his face had changed from 'mildly amused friend' to 'slightly annoyed cop' – the only difference being the way his eyebrows were drawn together. 

With yet another sigh, Gary said, "I only tried to punch the guy because he was saying nasty things about my mother, God rest her soul. The asshole deserved it." Then, seeing that Hank did not understand, he added, "The other guy is fine, by the way. I didn't even get him. The only reason I'm bleeding is because when I went to hit him, he ducked and I got the wall instead." His hand hurt a little bit, but not enough that he was bothered by it; he'd had much worse. 

"Right," said Hank again. He uncrossed his arms and reached for the cuffs on his belt. "Well, you know the drill, Gary. Let's go take a little ride down to the station." He seemed to derive a lot of pleasure from slapping the cuffs on Gary and "helping" him into the back of the squad car. 

As Gary made himself comfortable in the back seat of the cruiser, something dawned on him belatedly. "Hey, where's your partner? What was that little blond guy's name? Freddy or something? Where's he at?" he asked. Usually Hank was never around without his annoying little partner, a skinny blond guy who looked like he was fresh out of high school. 

"Frank's on medical leave for the next couple of weeks," said Hank. "But why do you even care? I thought you didn't like him." 

Hank and Frank, that was it! Gary couldn't hold back a giggle as he remembered that little detail. He wondered if their boss had realized what he was doing when he put Hank and Frank together as partners – the tiny blond guy and the big muscular brunette with the rhyming names. It was like some kind of weird joke. "Only reason I don't like the guy," Gary said when he'd managed to stop the giggles, "is 'cause he always puts the cuffs on too rough." 

"That wouldn't be a problem for you if you didn't get yourself into this kind of trouble every weekend," said Hank drily. "You know, you could just have one or two drinks and then go home, like normal people do." Even through the rear view mirror, Hank's sharp, authoritative gaze was enough to cause Gary's cock to twitch in interest. 

Shrugging, Gary tried to ignore his body's unhelpful reaction. "Maybe I get off on this, you ever think of that? Maybe the highlight of my week is when you come to arrest me." He hoped his flippant attitude covered up the fact that maybe he wasn't exactly joking. Having sobered up a little since being kicked out of the bar, Gary knew it would be stupid to go blabbing every thought that came to mind.

"If that's the highlight of your week, then you really need to get a hobby or a boyfriend or something," said Hank with another glance in the rear view mirror. "This is a sad way to get your kicks."

Gary had no plans to give up drinking, though. For the most part when he got drunk, he was fun to be around. Sometimes he'd get a little angry, but generally drinking made Gary turn into a big party animal. People liked Gary better when he was drunk. Gary liked Gary better when he was drunk. 

After they arrived at the station and completed the booking process, Gary said, "Do you think I could borrow a pair of pants? Mine are still wet." He looked at Hank with a little bit of a pleading look.

Sighing, Hank said, "It ain't my fault you sat your ass down in that puddle. You can just deal with it." He gave Gary another stern look, though this one wasn't as sharp as the last one had been. Truth was, Hank could be a lot softer than he acted like he was sometimes.

"That's cruel and unusual punishment, making me spend the night in wet jeans. You sure you don't even have like one spare pair of sweat pants in this whole place?" Gary asked. "Please?"

Funnily enough, it seemed to be the 'please' that had Hank uncrossing his arms and calling over one of the other cops. "Hey, Walsh, you wanna see if you can find our friend here a clean pair of pants? He seems to have wet his," he said, flashing a grin over at Gary in the process.

When the other cop came back with a pair of black sweat pants, Hank took Gary and the spare pair of pants back to the drunk tank. It was empty, but it was still early enough in the night and Gary had no doubt that he would be joined later by the rest of the Friday night crew of rabble rousers. 

Rather than leave after he'd taken the cuffs off Gary and closed the cell door, Hank crossed his arms over his chest again and waited. "You wanna hurry the fuck up and change, Gary?" he said, after a minute of them staring at each other at some sort of impasse. 

"Oh!" said Gary. "I didn't know you were so eager to watch me take off my clothes." He winked as he unzipped his wet jeans, thankful that his earlier problem seemed to have subsided. That would have made for a slightly awkward moment between the two of them. Still, he couldn't help watching Hank for a reaction as he undressed. Gary's legs were his best feature, if he did say so himself, and he wanted to be sure that Hank got the best view possible.

Hank said nothing about the display, just took the wet pants from Gary after he'd changed. Then he locked up the cell. "You'll get these back with the rest of your shit when you leave," he said stiffly. He left before Gary had the chance to say anything else, and he looked a little pissed off, too. 

Though he was confused at the sudden change of attitude, Gary decided not to dwell on it and instead made himself as comfortable as possible on one of the benches. He'd done this enough times that his body was used to sleeping on the hard wooden surface, however awkward it could be.

As he fell asleep, Gary told himself that one day, he'd try to talk to Hank while sober and see if that got him any better results, because drunken Gary was not doing a very good job so far.

*

_Monday, May 7_

Though Gary spent most of his weekends in an alcohol induced haze, he was always smart enough to sober up by Sunday night in order to be ready for work on Monday, bright and early. Gary liked his job and he liked his boss and had no intention of doing anything to fuck those up.

The first thing Gary heard when he showed up at the job site Monday morning was, "What the fuck happened to your hand?" Evan Jones, Gary's boss and the owner of Jericho Contracting and Construction, was staring at Gary's right hand as though the fingers had been shopped off or had turned green or were otherwise maimed in some awful way.

Momentarily confused, Gary glanced down and saw his scraped knuckles, still pretty red and damaged looking, though they didn't hurt that much anymore. "Got in a fight with a brick wall," he joked, though it was true. "Spent Friday night in lockup. And how was your weekend, boss?" 

Evan slapped him on the shoulder. "Thurston, you fucking dumbass!" He laughed. "I'm starting to think you might like it when they arrest you. Got a crush on one of the cops, is that it?" he teased. 

While he did not consider himself to be closeted about his sexuality, Gary had never really talked to his boss about it. Working in a blue collar job like construction – and with a boss that was a big, tough tattooed biker like Evan – well, Gary thought he had a right to be a little wary about something like that. "Ha, yeah, that's me. I got a thing going on with one of those guys," he joked, running a hand through his hair a little nervously. "Those handcuffs really turn me on, you know."

There was a moment when Evan looked at him kind of funny, but it passed quickly and he was grinning again. "Gary, you fucking perv," he said. "Now get to work and help Jeff out with those beams."

*

_Monday, May 7_

If there was one thing that was true in Hank Howard's life, it was that Gary Thurston was a big pain in the ass. The fact that Hank continued to put up with him week after week was a testament to the fact that he probably favored Gary more than he should. There were times in his life when Hank wished he'd chosen some other career path; that way he wouldn't feel so fucking guilty when all he ever did was book Gary for the night when he got too drunk. Frank always said that Gary needed to be locked up longer, that he was a menace to society and it wasn't right for a guy like that to be wandering the streets. 

Sometimes Hank thought that his partner was the real-life version of Barney Fife, but he figured Frank wouldn't get the reference. The kid didn't know a damn thing sometimes. 

On Mondays, Hank ran errands that usually ended up with him down at Grantham Penitentiary. Hank had volunteered for the minor errands, even though it could have been given to one of the rookies instead of an officer of his rank. He wanted to stop by because there was one person in the prison that Hank didn't have a chance to see otherwise.

After he delivered what needed to be delivered, Hank met with the correctional officer in charge of Tommy's unit. "How's he been doing?" he asked the officer, a hard-ass named Steve McGowan. Hank didn't like the guy very much, but he had to respect that Steve was just doing his job. 

The CO shrugged. "Got into a fight in the cafeteria yesterday, knocked some guy's lights out. Your brother really needs to get control of that fuckin' temper. His psych won't let us put him on meds, though, says this is a problem he needs to work out on his own." Then he kind of narrowed his eyes at Hank. "I don't get why you keep coming to see him. Ain't you embarrassed that your big brother's in this place, you being mister big cop dude?" 

Hank didn't answer that, knowing that Steve was just trying to bait him into defending his brother against that charge. There weren't excuses for what Tommy did, but that didn't mean that his brother was a bad person. "Can I see him?" 

Sighing, the correctional officer seemed to consider this for a moment before he finally said, "yeah, all right. I'll have Brett here show you to one of the private rooms and you can wait there."

This was how it always went. The correctional officers always gave him shit for being there, but Hank imagined it had a lot to do with jealousy about his position. He was a real cop with a real badge, and they were just glorified security guards with truncheons. How many lives were they ever gonna save? Here, they already had the bad guys and couldn't do shit with them. 

When Tommy was led into the room by another guard, he was wearing the stupid orange prison jumpsuit, his wrists in chains. His hair was getting longer, Hank noticed, and it gave him a haggard look. His face was hard, like he'd seen way too much and was sick of it. 

Still, he managed a genuine smile at Hank when his younger brother stood up to greet him. 

"Fuck, Tommy, you gettin' bigger or what?" Hank asked, clapping a hand on his brother's back in a sort of half-hug; he knew Tommy wouldn't like a real hug. 

Though Tommy was only the second oldest of the Howard siblings, he was by far the largest. At six foot six and over three hundred pounds of pure muscle, he was broad and scary looking with his dark blue eyes and shaggy hair. Even before he'd gotten locked up, Tommy had been the one with the temper, the one people gave a wide berth on the street when they walked by. 

"Been in the gym a lot. Why, you jealous?" Tommy asked. "It's either the gym or the library, and you know how much I hate reading." He wrinkled his nose and looked a lot like the big brother Hank remembered from when they were kids, the same one that gave him wedgies and would hold him in a headlock until he yelled loud enough to get Mom in the room. 

"Have a seat," said Hank. "I got a couple minutes before I have to go back. I want to talk." He hated that Tommy was in this fucking place and would be for at least another year, but he made the best of it. The family tried to visit him every couple weeks but that didn't always work out, what with Hank's odd work hours, Nick doing coaching after school and Jen sometimes having to work late, too. The whole thing was just hard to coordinate. It wasn't fair that Tommy missed out on all the family shit. 

Tommy sat down, and the guard that had escorted him into the room waited by the door. 

Hank had the right as an officer of the law to ask the guard to leave, but he didn't bother. It wasn't like he was going to be talking about state secrets with his brother or anything. It was just conversation.

"How's everybody doing?" asked Tommy. "How is Jen? And Nick? What about Tristan and Rita? Are you gonna be able to get the whole family here to visit soon?" He looked hopeful. "I've missed you guys. It sucks here. You and Tabby are the only ones that really visit me that much." He shrugged.

Tabitha was Tommy's girlfriend, a very pretty woman who had seemed to be helping Tommy get through a lot of his problems – well, at least until Tommy ended up in jail. It was nice to see that she was still loyal to him, though Tabitha never made the effort to talk to the rest of the family. Nick had tried inviting her to the family dinners, but she'd never been interested and so he'd stopped asking. 

"I hope so," replied Hank. "Nick wanted to come down in a couple weeks. He's trying to get one of the subs to cover him at work and then everyone's gonna be here," Hank told him. "Jen's been doing pretty well, I guess." She hadn't been overly talkative at dinner on Friday, but that wasn't unusual for her. 

Nodding, Tommy leaned forward a little across the table. "And how about you?" he asked. "How are things going at work? Arresting a lot of bad guys?" he teased. 

Hank shrugged, not really sure he wanted to talk about that right now. He was always uncomfortable talking about his job around his incarcerated brother, afraid that Tommy might lash out and blame Hank for having been arrested, even if Hank wasn't the one that had arrested him. 

Seeming to sense Hank's reluctance, Tommy changed the subject. "Well how are things going with that guy you were telling me about?" he asked. 

Though all of Hank's siblings knew about his sexuality – he'd been out since the age of fourteen when he'd been caught, half undressed and making out with Nate Shaw in his bedroom – most of them didn't seem comfortable with talking about Hank actually having a sex life like the rest of them. Tommy was the exception to that rule, though, but maybe that was because Tommy claimed he was "a little bisexual," having been with a couple men in college, even if he was currently involved with a woman. He was the only sibling to know about Hank's ongoing problem with a certain drunk. 

"Gary?" Hank sighed a little, not even sure where he should start with that topic. "It'd probably be going better if I knew what Gary was like sober. I only ever see him when he's plastered and I have to take him in overnight at the station. Not really a solid way to build up a relationship," he said.

Grinning broadly, Tommy responded, "No need to bother with all of that relationship shit! You just need to find a quiet place for the two of you to get naked and just go at it!" 

Hank rolled his eyes. "It ain't that easy." It was never that easy.

*

_Wednesday May 9_

Normally, Hank refused to answer his phone while he was eating, especially when he'd been patrolling for six straight hours and had only just now gotten the chance for a meal – if one could call two Big Macs scarfed down in the driver's seat of his parked patrol car a "meal." However, the caller ID on his phone told him that it was his big brother Nick calling and Hank knew that Nick wouldn't bother if it wasn't something important to him. 

Hank cleaned his hands with a wet wipe from the container kept in his car for that purpose and picked up the phone from its spot on the passenger seat. "Hey, big bro, what's up?"

"Hope I'm not interrupting anything," said Nick. "Are you working right now?"

"Just having dinner," replied Hank. "Don't worry, I'm free to talk. What did you need?" In his head, Hank ran through a dozen reasons why Nick was calling him, ranging from potential news that Rita was pregnant again, or that something had happened with Jen, or that Tommy had gotten in a fight with another inmate. It could be anything.

Nick sighed a little into his end of the phone. "You remember Evan Jones, right?" he asked. "You know, the guy whose company did the deck on my house last year?" 

Confused, Hank said, "Yeah? You mean the dude with all the tattoos, right?" He only vaguely remembered the man in question. 

"Yeah. He rides a Harley, too. You know the type," said Nick. "Well, it seems that our little sister has gotten involved with the guy. She just called and asked me for his number. I don't know what the fuck she thinks she wants from him, but I don't like it. That guy is nothing but trouble, especially for Jen."

"Are you shitting me? Jen's into that guy? He's like the opposite of her!" Hank exclaimed, but immediately he thought of Mr. Drunk and Disorderly himself, also known as Gary Thurston, his polar opposite and the only person Hank had been thinking about lately. Maybe he couldn't really judge Jen on her choice of men when his own wasn't much better.

"Yeah. So, can I ask you for a favor, then, Hank?" said Nick, and Hank already knew where this was going. "I know Evan's working on the lot behind Pine Street, building a house or some shit. I was thinking maybe you could drop by before the weekend and see about having a little chat with him," he suggested, but with a strong hint of _you don't really have a choice here._

Hank rolled his eyes. "Oh, right. So _I'll_ go have a chat with Jen's boyfriend, so that when she finds out, I'm the one she yells at instead of you, even though this is your idea." 

"You always were the smart one," teased Nick. Then he got serious again. "Look, I just want to know if this guy is jerking her around or what. I know what guys like that want from girls like Jen and I won't stand for it," he said firmly. Yep, that was his Big Brother voice. "She deserves better." 

"And if her big scary cop brother talks to the guy, he'll think twice about fucking with her," finished Hank. He knew why Nick was having him do this instead of talking to Evan himself, despite the fact that Nick knew Evan better than Hank did. It was Hank's uniform and badge that he wanted to use to intimidate this biker guy. Well, Hank didn't mind so much. Evan may have thought of himself as big and bad, but Hank was bigger and he had a hell of a lot more authority on his side.

With a laugh, Nick said, "Yeah, basically I just want you to show up and flash your badge, maybe scare him a little. Think you can do that?" 

The initial reaction was to say no, if only to avoid Jen's wrath when she found out. However, Hank's brotherly instinct was stronger, telling him that it was better to do this for his sister's safety than wait and deal with the potential heartbreak later. He sighed. "Yeah, I guess I can stop by tomorrow."

"Sweet," said Nick. "This'll make up for when I paid your phone bill in January, all right?"

Hank hadn't forgotten about the money he owed his brother – well, not exactly – but he had been trying not to think about it. It was hard enough trying to set aside an emergency fund for his own use, let alone trying to find the cash to pay back his brother as well. The debt he owed Nick was greater than the single cell phone bill, too. There was forty dollars for gas here, sixty bucks for groceries there and so on, but even those small amounts tended to add up quickly. 

"Thanks, bro," said Hank. "But if Jen beats me up for this, I'm telling her it was your idea."

There was another laugh from Nick's end. "No problem," he said. "I'll talk to you later, all right? Oh, and by the way, Jen's watching Tristan this weekend so Rita and I can have a little time to ourselves," he added. "So if you were thinking of dropping by, don't." Nick was clearly happy about the prospect of being alone with his wife, but there was a hint of something else in his voice, almost as though he was nervous or apprehensive about something.

Though they were close, Hank and Nick never talked about things like that, not really. Hank didn't want to know if there were problems with Nick's marriage. As far as he knew, Nick and Rita were happily married and firmly in love, and that was how Hank wanted to think of them. So rather than ask his brother if everything was okay, Hank just said, "I'll be sure to keep that in mind. I got no interest in seeing either of you naked anyway." 

They both laughed at that, though Nick's sounded a little forced to Hank's ears – clearly there was something happening with him and his wife. Hank just hoped that their weekend together would solve whatever the problem was. He said nothing about it, though, and instead just ended the phone call with his brother, dropping his phone back on the seat.

He tried not to dwell on the problems facing his siblings as he finished his meal, but it was hard to keep the thoughts away. Instead, he started thinking about Gary Thurston, but that honestly wasn't any better as far as his train of thought went.

There was no doubt that Gary was trouble. The man spent damn near every Friday night behind bars due to his stupid drunken antics, and if Hank was smart – or maybe thinking with his head instead of his dick – he'd find some way to get Gary a more permanent arrangement at the penitentiary.

But whenever Frank would bring up that idea, Hank found himself defending Gary, saying he wasn't that bad, that he never really hurt anybody, that Gary was really a good guy underneath all that behavior. Hank had said that shit so many times that he was starting to believe it himself. 

And that was where Gary's true danger lay, because once Hank started to believe that Gary really could be a good guy, he'd start to lose his conviction. Hank knew that there was only a matter of time before he gave in and acted on his attraction to Gary, and he wasn't so sure that the results of that would be good for either of them.

*

_Thursday, May 10_

Gary liked Thursdays because Thursday meant that Friday was coming, and Friday meant that he could get his drink on. However, his love of Thursdays did not mean that they went any quicker than any other day of the week, and Gary still had to go to work. This particular Thursday, only Gary, Adam, and Evan were working; the rest of the crew had the day off. 

That wasn't to say that Gary didn't like his job – in fact, he loved it. He knew he wasn't all that smart, so being able to use his body and put his muscles to work, getting sweaty and dirty and building things? Well that was something Gary liked to do. 

He kept himself going through the work day by reminding himself that in less than forty-eight hours he would be sidling up to the bar and ordering his first drink of the weekend. Gary was happily entrenched in the fantasy of his perfect weekend when Adam interrupted his fantasies by daring to speak.

"What the fuck are the cops doing here?" asked the brunette, pushing his hair back on his sweaty forehead. Adam liked to work without a shirt on, as though he thought he was some great prize and that his body should be shown off at every opportunity, but Gary hadn't had the heart to tell him that his body was really not that spectacular. 

"The cops?" Gary felt his heart rate pick up at that mention, and he straightened up, turning to look in the direction of Adam's gaze to see what was up. 

Indeed, there was a black and white cop car driving up to park next to Evan's truck. The flashing lights and sirens weren't on, suggesting that it wasn't an emergency. Gary knew, though, that his luck dictated there was only one specific police officer that could possibly be coming to visit them today. 

When Sergeant Hank Howard stepped out of the squad car in full uniform, Gary nearly swooned. It turned out that Sober Gary was just as attracted to Hank as Drunk Gary was, but Hank in his uniform was such an attractive sight that it was no wonder everybody else wasn't swooning, too.

The sunlight glinted off Hank's badge, and his muscles bulged in the tight uniform shirt. Gary was a little pleased to note that Hank hadn't taken his suggestion of trying to find one that fit him better. The pants also encased his legs quite nicely, and when Hank turned to shut the car door, Gary got a nice view of the police officer's ass. That was definitely something worth swooning over. 

Then Gary started to worry. Was the cop here to see him? He panicked a little at that thought, but he couldn't remember anything that he'd done recently that would be an arrest-worthy offense. He'd been a good boy ever since last weekend. 

"Damn, Gary, you look really nervous. You worried he's going to arrest you?" Adam joked, nudging him. Truth be told, Adam was the one that looked a little worried, and Gary figured it had something to do with the weed that Gary knew he had stashed in the glove compartment of his car. 

Gary was too focused on Hank to really care what his coworker was saying to him, though, and he didn't think that Hank was here to harass Adam about anything. 

Instead of coming over to say hi to Gary, though, Hank walked over to where Evan was leaning against the truck. He didn't even so much as glance in Gary's direction. 

"Well what the fuck is he talking to him for?" grumbled Gary. He didn't know what Hank was going to be doing with Evan but he didn't like it one bit. Gary put down the tool in his hand and walked a little closer so he could hear what they were saying but without looking like he was snooping. 

Hank stopped when he was standing right in front of Evan, and the two just looked at each other for a long moment before Hank said, "So I hear you're interested in my sister."

It turned out that Gary didn't even have to snoop because Hank was talking loud enough that everybody could hear what he was saying, but maybe that was the point. Gary was a little surprised, though; he hadn't known that Hank had a sister, but it figured that he'd be the protective brother. 

"So what if I am?" challenged Evan, looking a little amused about this. "Is that a bad thing? Have you come here to try to scare me off?" he asked. 

Shrugging, Hank said, "Look, I'm just looking out for my sister's best interests. She doesn't always look before she leaps, and let's be honest, Evan. You aren't exactly her type, are you?" 

Evan rolled his eyes. "Really? You're going to pull the big brother act? How the fuck do you know what Jen's type is, anyway? The girl wants what she wants, and I don't see any problem with letting her do what she wants to do," he said. "By the way, the cop uniform really isn't doing much in the way of intimidating me, if that was your intention," he added. "I'm not doing anything illegal."

When Hank ran his hand through his hair, Gary thought he wasn't going to be able to control himself anymore. His attraction to Hank was really starting to get ridiculous. One of these days he wasn't going to be able to stop himself from doing something stupid, like maybe throwing himself at the officer's feet and pledging his undying love and affection.

A gasp must have come out his mouth or something because Hank turned in Gary's direction. He seemed surprised to see him there, but then he kind of winked at Gary before turning back to Evan.

"What the fuck was that?" whispered Adam into Gary's ear. When in the world had he gotten so close, anyway? "Why did he wink at you? Do you know him?" 

"Would you back off?" asked Gary, swatting at Adam. "Jesus, you ever hear of personal space, asshole?" The only person he wanted standing that close to him would be Hank, but that didn't appear to be happening soon. He turned his attention back to the discussion between Evan and Hank.

The cop sighed. "To be honest, I really don't give a shit if you and my sister are seeing each other. As long as you're good to her, I don't care if you drive a motorcycle or a fucking helicopter or some shit. It's just that Jen is our baby sister and we're all kind of protective of her, you know?" he said. 

Gary thought that was kind of sweet. He'd never had any siblings, but it was so adorable that Hank was protective of his sister like that. But when he said "we," Gary had to wonder just how many siblings Hank actually had. It was interesting learning more about the cop. Considering how long they'd known each other, he was surprised that they'd never even talked about their personal lives. To be fair, though, that wasn't exactly the kind of conversation that came up when Gary was being escorted to his cell at the police station. 

"I can understand you wanting to make sure she doesn't get hurt," said Evan, considerably calmer than he had been at the start of the conversation. "I can assure you that I have no intention of hurting your sister. She means a lot to me, too, okay? So don't think that I'm in this just to screw with her and break her heart. I wouldn't put this much time and effort into it if I wasn't serious about her." He brushed his hand over the top of his hair as well and looked at Hank, his eyes full of sincerity. 

Nodding, Hank said, "That's what I like to hear." He stuck out his hand and Evan shook it. "And maybe you could, ah, not tell Jen that we had this talk? She might get angry with me and I'm not so sure I want to deal with that." He grinned at Evan and Gary felt his stomach do a flip at that gorgeous smile. 

Evan smirked. "Oh, I don't know about that. I think you might deserve whatever you got coming to you, especially since you're coming here to harass me at work. You don't trust your sister to make the right choices for herself?" he asked. 

"It's not that I don't trust her," said Hank. "It's just a big brother thing, you know? We want her to be safe. But Jen will have my head for this," he said with a bit of a laugh; he didn't seem too worried about what his sister would do to him. In fact he looked like the whole thing was funny to him. At least they both seemed to be amicable now. "Anyway, thanks for understanding. I promise I won't bother you about this again, but if you break her heart, you'll have at least two angry big brothers to deal with, maybe three if Tommy's out of jail by then." 

Gary had no idea if that was a joke or not, but his eyes went wide anyway. Hank had three siblings? And one of them was in jail? That sounded like way too many to deal with; Gary couldn't even imagine what it would be like growing up in that household. How did Hank ever get any peace?

When the conversation between the two seemed to be over, Gary picked up his tools and got back to work, trying to act as though he hadn't been spying on Hank and his boss in the first place. He didn't want Hank to get the wrong idea about him – well, whatever the wrong idea was, since Gary didn't even know what the right idea about him would be. 

Before Gary could really get back into the swing of working, a shadow came over him, and Gary looked up to see Hank in all his uniformed glory, standing there and watching Gary with an amused look on his face. With the sun at his back, Hank cast a very big shadow. 

"Uh, Sergeant Howard, what are you doing here?" Gary asked, doing his best to act surprised. It was silly to act as though he hadn't seen Hank show up, but Gary's brain told him it was a good idea to play innocent. Sometimes he really regretted listening to his brain.

Hank smirked at him. "Nice to see you have a real job, Gary. You need something to keep you occupied during the week when you aren't too busy getting drunk," he said. 

Licking his lips, Gary said, "yeah, well, gotta make money so I can buy all those beers, you know." He was only partly teasing, but he liked the way Hank was looking at him. He wanted Hank to look at him like that all the time, forever. 

The police officer nodded and looked over Gary's shoulder to where Adam was still standing, the stoner watching them like he had nothing better to do with his time. "Is there somewhere private we can go to talk?" Hank asked in a low voice.

_Oh fuck_ , thought Gary, because his mind was definitely getting ahead of the rest of him. There was a lot of intention behind those words and his own mind was filling him with thoughts of what they could do alone. He looked around. There really weren't a lot of places where they could go to be alone – no buildings to go inside of and no woods to walk off into. "Maybe over by the truck?" he suggested, pointing to the vehicles parked on the grass. Evan's truck – a monstrous Ford F-450 Super Duty – was big enough that they could sort of hide behind it for their 'private conversation.'

"All right." Hank turned and headed for the truck.

Gary followed, his heart beating faster. 

As soon as they were around the side of the truck and out of sight of everyone else, Hank had his hands on the front of Gary's t-shirt and was dragging him close. "I don't know what the hell's going on, but I gotta say you look much more attractive when you aren't falling down drunk." 

He swallowed hard. "You look hotter when I'm sober, too," Gary said thickly. "I know we don't know a lot about each other, but –" Gary gripped Hank's forearm and looked up into his eyes. 

Thankfully, Hank got the hint and he bent down to kiss him, at the same time pressing Gary's body back until he was against the side of the truck. 

Gary felt the vehicle rock a little on its wheels as Hank pushed him into the side of it, and he was worried for a minute that maybe his body would leave a dent in the truck – or worse, that Hank would use so much force that the whole thing would tip right over and that everybody would come looking at them and see what they were doing and then everybody at work would know that Gary liked dick. 

He did not want his coworkers to know about that side of him, not yet. Preferably not ever, or at least until he was in some sort of happy committed relationship where he no longer gave any fucks what anybody thought of him. 

Except as he was thinking these very thoughts, Hank's hands were pushing up under Gary's t-shirt, those big, strong hands running over his skin and his chest, and Hank's mouth was on his and Gary really shouldn't have been able to think about anything with that kind of stimulation, but his stupid brain wouldn't shut up about it.

He finally managed to kiss back, his own fingers hooking into Hank's utility belt as he tugged the other man's hips closer to his own in order to align their lower bodies as best he could manage. He was really interested in what would happen when the two of them were naked, but at least he wasn't too stupid to think that they'd be doing that sort of thing right now. No, there was no way he was stripping and letting Hank take him right here, behind the truck at the construction site where his boss was like, less than a hundred feet away. No sirree, that was not a desirable way to have sex. 

Well, unless Hank was an exhibitionist, and Gary wasn't so sure that he wouldn't go along with it if Hank thought it was a good idea. He was so far gone at this point that Hank could have asked him to put on a dress and he probably would have done it. Gary was just ready to get his rocks off.

Then Hank's hand – the one that wasn't up his shirt – cupped Gary's crotch and squeezed it just enough that Gary could feel it. Because he knew exactly what the fuck he was doing, Hank swallowed Gary's yelp of surprise with his kiss. 

Gary was enjoying himself quite nicely right now as he pulled Hank closer, curling his leg around the back of Hank's calves to make sure he wasn't going anywhere either. 

Except then somebody cleared their throat real loud – loud enough for Gary to hear over the sound of the blood rushing in his ears at Hank's bodily contact.

"Well what do we have here?" asked a familiar husky voice – the voice of Gary's boss, no less.

_Oh fuck_ , though Gary again. He let go of Hank immediately, dropping his hands to his sides and hoping like hell that a meteor would drop on them right this very instant.

Though he wasn't as quick about it as Gary was, Hank also removed his hands from the other man, brushing his pants off as he stepped back. "I was just, ah, making sure Gary wasn't carrying any contraband on him. I had to be thorough in my search." 

Evan smirked. "Right." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the both of them, eyebrows raised as though the whole thing was just amusing.

"I guess I'd better get going," Hank said, glancing at Gary. He adjusted his utility belt – and Gary couldn't help glancing down at that, pleased to see that Hank seemed to be having a little trouble in his pants, much as Gary himself was – and then headed toward his car. 

After Hank drove the squad car back down the driveway, Evan turned back to Gary with a grin on his face. "So, I guess you weren't joking about having a thing for cops, were you?" he teased. 

Gary blushed. "Well." He didn't know what to say to that, but he wanted to know what Evan's thoughts were on the fact that Gary was making out with a man. Did he have a problem with it or not? Judging by his attitude, he seemed to be all right with Gary being gay, but maybe he was waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Look, Gary," said Evan, his expression turning serious. "I don't have a problem if you're gay, all right? If you're happy, that's what matters. Were you seriously worried about that?" he asked. 

How had he read Gary's mind like that? It was freaky. "I guess I was a little worried," Gary said, shrugging. "I don't like talking about it with people if I don't know how they're gonna react, you know?" 

Evan nodded. "I don't understand entirely, I guess, but I want you to know that I'm happy for you. If you're getting laid, then more power to you!" he said, the grin returning. 

"Well, I'm not exactly getting laid yet," Gary said with a sigh. "Would you believe it if I told you that's the first kiss he's ever given me?" he asked. "I don't know what's going on with us." He shrugged again. Was he really talking to his boss about relationship problems? God, how pathetic could he get?

Patting Gary's shoulder, Evan said, "You worry too much, Thurston. Just let it be." With those words of wisdom, he walked off, leaving Gary to wonder just exactly what that was supposed to mean. 

Sober Gary appeared to be doing a lot better as far as getting Hank's attentions, though, and that seemed as good a place to start as any. Maybe he'd have to change around his plans for the weekend and find something to do that didn't involve getting drunk off his ass.

*

_Friday, May 11_

The call came exactly when Hank expected it - eleven o'clock on a Friday night. Gary Thurston was being drunk and disorderly at the Cave, to the surprise of absolutely nobody. Hank was tempted to let one of the other officers handle the call, but then Richter came over the radio and teased Hank about how his 'boyfriend' was waiting for their usual date. Hank realized that he really didn't want anybody else to pick Gary up; they wouldn't know how to handle him the right way. Besides, Hank really wanted to see Gary, especially after what had happened between them yesterday. 

When Hank arrived on the scene, he found Gary leaning against the wall behind the building. Though he wasn't bruised or bleeding this time, Gary looked like crap, with glassy, bloodshot eyes and limp hair. His face looked pale and sickly and his clothes were rumpled, the fly on his pants undone. Hank just wanted to give him a shower and some pajamas and send the poor guy to bed; he had never seen Gary this bad and it seriously worried him.

"Don't even try to tell me you had nothing to do with it this time," said Hank as he approached. 

Shrugging limply, Gary slurred, "I messed up a lot. Please take me home, Hank." He stepped away from the wall and stumbled, but Hank caught him by the arm before he did a face plant. "Thank you," said Gary, gazing up at Hank.

For a moment, the two men just stood there, with Hank holding Gary steady, and the smaller man staring into his eyes as though he was discovering the secrets of the universe. Hank had a hard time reconciling this behavior with the man he'd kissed just yesterday, but he remembered what Tommy had been like when he drank too much. Alcohol changed people. 

"Let's take a trip down to the station, Gary," said Hank carefully. "You need to sober up and sleep this off. I don't like to see that you keep doing this to yourself, though." He looked into Gary's eyes, but didn't know how much of his words would sink into Gary's booze-addled brain. 

Gary nodded at him. "Let's do that," he slurred. He was more cooperative than usual as Hank cuffed him and helped him into the back of the car. After he was seated, Gary leaned against the back of the seat and closed his eyes. 

As they drove back to the station, Hank found himself thinking about what he'd done yesterday with Gary. Had that been a mistake? It was hard seeing Gary completely wasted like this and trying to imagine being in some kind of an actual relationship with him, but on the other hand, their mutual attraction was hard to ignore. The sparks were definitely there. 

"I'm hungry," moaned Gary from the back seat. "I puked up my dinner and now I'm starving." He groaned a little, too. 

Hank twisted around to get a look at him. "Did you puke in my back seat?" he exclaimed. He didn't look forward to having to get that cleaned out. He took pride in keeping the cruiser as clean as possible. "If you did, I swear to God –"

"No, no no!" said Gary. "Before, at the bar. That's why they kicked me out. I was yelling at some guy and then I threw up on the floor." 

Rolling his eyes, Hank said, "Of course you did." He glanced over at the passenger seat to the rest of his dinner that he had not yet finished. "I got a cold Big Mac and some chips up here, if you want," he offered. Was it bad that he thought about stopping somewhere to buy Gary food if he had to? 

"Sounds good to me, but I can't really eat with my cuffs on," Gary pointed out, sounding a hell of a lot more sober than he had been.

"Of course you can't," muttered Hank. As soon as he could, he pulled the cruiser into an empty parking lot and got out. Though it really wasn't proper, Hank let Gary out of the cuffs and gave him the burger and chips. He watched Gary eat like a man who hadn't had a meal in days. He hoped the food would help Gary feel a little better.

When Gary finished eating, Hank gave him a wet wipe for his hands; he was a bit particular about keeping his car clean and didn't want Gary's dirty hands all over the upholstery. "You feeling better?" he asked, looking him over. He didn't look quite so pale and sickly, at least. 

"Don't suppose you have a mint, do you?" Gary tilted his head questioningly, eyes wide and far too innocent looking.

It turned out that he did have a roll of wintergreen Lifesavers, so Hank let Gary have one of those before he grabbed the handcuffs off his belt again. He needed to get Gary cuffed up again before they got back to the station. Hank knew he really shouldn't have done any of this in the first place, but he'd been letting his feelings for Gary soften him up too much. He hoped the other officers wouldn't find out about what he'd done; he had a feeling they would tease him. 

Before Hank could get the cuffs on the other man, Gary had grabbed his lapels, tugging him down to Gary's level. "I bet you'd look better out of that stupid uniform," said Gary. His words were barely slurred anymore, and Hank was beginning to wonder if Gary had been all that drunk in the first place. Gary prevented him from asking that question with a kiss to the lips, one that Hank tried desperately not to react to, even though he really, really wanted to. It reminded him of their kiss from the day before, though this one was a lot different. 

Hank regained his footing quickly, pushing Gary away. It took a bit longer to compose himself, but then he snapped the cuffs on Gary - with Gary's subdued compliance - and shut the door. He didn't get back in the driver's seat right away, instead trying to clear his head so he could make sense of all of this nonsense. 

Everything was a jumbled mess, and the only thing Hank really knew for certain was that he wanted Gary – wanted him enough that he would go against standard procedure. Was that more than just lust he was feeling, then? 

However, he also knew that nothing between them could change for the better until Gary stopped drinking so much. Hank much preferred Gary when he was sober.

*

_Friday, May 25_

Running his hand through his hair, Hank sighed out loud to himself and flopped his head back on the couch. He'd never thought he'd get so attached to somebody before, and the fact that the person he was so attached to was a habitual drunk criminal – because honestly that's what he was; getting into fist-fights in a bar was criminal behavior – didn't make him feel any better. 

He hadn't seen Gary since the drunk kiss in the cop car when he'd picked him up, and that had been two weeks ago. For two Fridays in a row, Hank hadn't gotten any calls to pick up Gary for those two weeks, and he'd even checked with the other cops on the force, but they hadn't picked Gary up, either. One weekend might have made sense, but two weeks in a row with no Gary was strange; he usually didn't go that long without causing some kind of trouble. Gary was one of the few things they could actually count on every weekend. The disappointment that had come over him when his shift was over and he still hadn't seen Gary was enough to convince Hank that he was hooked on this guy. 

After another week with no word from Gary, Hank convinced his boss to give his Friday shift to somebody else, and he spent the first part of the day trying to think of what the hell he was going to do about his apparent feelings for the other man. They barely even knew each other, aside from Gary's drunken Friday nights, and yet Hank could not stop thinking about the other man. 

Knowing that he had to do something soon, Hank got into his car and headed down to Pine Street where he knew Gary would still be working. He wasn't quite sure what he'd say to him yet, nor what he'd say when Evan asked him why he was there. The only thing Hank was really sure about was that he needed to see Gary soon. He wanted to solve this. 

When he arrived at the job site, he parked his car next to that huge truck of Evan's. He'd considered telling Jen about the size of her boyfriend's vehicle and whether it could possibly mean that he was compensating for something that might not be quite so large, but he didn't need any reason to get his sister even angrier at him. She still hadn't said anything to him about his talk with Evan, but Hank knew that she would just be waiting for the right time. Jen could hold grudges until the end of time, and he knew that she was just holding out until she could catch him off guard.

As he shut the car door, Hank looked around. Most of the men seemed to be just standing around, but seeing as it was just past five o'clock, Hank figured that they were probably getting ready to go home. He worried for a moment that he'd gotten here too late to catch Gary, but a moment later, he spotted the man standing with Evan, and his mouth went dry.

Gary had taken his t-shirt off to wipe his face with it and Hank got a real good look at the other man's body. Though he'd had an idea that Gary was probably pretty muscular from his job, he'd never expected those sculpted abs, nor the dusting of reddish-brown hair across his chest, nor the way his jeans hung low on his hips, leaving little to the imagination. Hank knew he was done for.

He swallowed, straightened his back and headed over to the two men. "Gary," he said when he was within earshot. "Haven't seen you in a while." He tried to sound casual, but he knew that there was no way he could play this off as just a random visit. 

Licking his lips, Gary looked Hank up and down. "Wow, Sergeant Howard, you sure look different out of uniform." When his eyes met Hank's, he looked like he was trying to hold back a grin. "I'm guessing you didn't come here to arrest me, then, hmm?" he asked. 

Hank shrugged, unable to hold back a grin of his own; Gary just had that effect on him. "Mostly I just came to see if you were doing anything after work today." He rubbed the back of his neck, hoping his light, casual tone would make up for the fact that he hadn't asked anybody out in a long time and that he'd kind of forgotten how to tell somebody he wanted to have sex with them. 

"Oh?" said Gary. "Well I wasn't planning on going out and drinking, if that's what you're asking," he said. "Don't worry, Officer, I'll be a good boy. Last weekend I was so well behaved that I got to sleep in my own bed on Friday! Imagine that, huh?" Gary had gone from mildly amused to defensive, and Hank wondered where that had even come from. Had he said something to offend Gary?

Evan looked a little confused about the sudden change in attitude as well, and he put his hand on Gary's shoulder. "Dude, calm down. I think you misinterpreted what Hank was trying to say." 

Resisting the urge to run his hand through his hair – a nervous habit he was trying to break – Hank inhaled. "I wanted to know if you were doing anything tonight," he said slowly, "because if you weren't, I thought you might like to come to my place for a beer or something. But if you're not interested, that's fine." He shrugged, feeling awkward and wishing he hadn't come here in the first place. 

"Oh, fuck," said Gary, and let out a breath. "What I mean is, yes, I'd love to come over for a beer." He offered a nervous smile. "Jesus, it's so hard to do this kind of shit sober." He was still holding on to his t-shirt, and he twisted that around in his hands as he watched Hank. 

Evan laughed and patted Gary on the shoulder again. "You'll learn," he said. "Besides, I can guarantee it's a lot better when you can remember it the next day." He winked at Hank. "Now you kids go have fun, okay? Don't do anything too dangerous!" 

There was a moment where Gary looked a bit unsure, but it was brief and then he turned to Hank and got that big grin on his face that Hank was so used to seeing on him. "I don't have a car, so I guess I'm gonna have to ride with you," he said. "You didn't bring the cruiser, did you?" 

"Sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't get to drive it around whenever I want," said Hank.

"Well there goes that fantasy," joked Gary as he pulled his t-shirt back on over his head. 

Hank pretended that he wasn't disappointed at that lovely sight being taken away from him. If he was lucky, he'd be able to see it again pretty soon anyway. Besides, one could enjoy a naked body more when one had a hand in unwrapping it. 

Together, they walked back to Hank's admittedly boring little red Honda Civic. The car was out of pure necessity and not any real attraction to the vehicle. Hank had to admit that he kind of liked driving the black-and-white cruiser around, too; the Grantham Police Department had just gotten brand new Dodge Chargers for their cruisers and Hank – who had never really been much of a car guy – was absolutely in love with it. He could see why Gary found it appealing, too. 

Hank kept the interior of his own car fairly clean, so there was no trash for Gary to push aside before he sat down. He made himself comfortable and Hank started up the car, driving away. They were almost halfway to Hank's house when Gary finally spoke.

"I'm, ah, I'm trying to quit drinking so much," he said. "I mean, I don't think I'm an alcoholic or anything, but I'm starting to think that I should probably be careful about what I drink. That's why you didn't see me the last couple weeks." He glanced over at Hank, as though he was looking for approval. Then he looked back down at his lap. Why was he so shy now?

For a moment, Hank wasn't quite sure what to say. He sighed. "There's nothing wrong with drinking, okay?" he said. "It's only when you drink too much and start getting into fights that it becomes an issue. And if you're doing it damn near every weekend, that's too often. You're hurting yourself." They were at a stoplight and he looked over at Gary, but the other man had turned to stare out the window. Hank wondered if he'd gotten too preachy or serious for Gary. 

Neither of them spoke for the rest of the drive, and Hank began to wonder if this whole thing had even been a good idea in the first place. What had he really expected to gain from this? He and Gary didn't have anything in common except their mutual attraction; that really wasn't anything on which to build a proper relationship – if that was even what Gary was looking for. 

He thought of the conversation he'd had with Tommy a couple weeks ago. Maybe it would be better to forget about "that relationship shit" and just enjoy this for what it was. As he parked the car in his driveway, he glanced over at Gary again. "If you, ah, don't want to do this, Gary, we don't have to." 

"Fuck's sake," said Gary, sighing loudly. "If we're going to do this then we should just do this." He unbuckled his seat belt and turned to face Hank. "I've been thinking about you ever since you kissed me." Then he shook his head. "No, even before that. Fuck, Hank, I've been flirting with you for months and there was never anything from you, and now –" 

In Hank's opinion, there was far too much talking going on. He leaned across the center console and took Gary's face in his hands, pausing for a moment to meet the other man's green-eyed gaze before he closed the space between them with a kiss. 

With the limited space across the front of his car, the kiss wasn't as intense as their first had been, but Hank hoped that he was still getting his point across. 

It was like being back in high school again, sitting the car in the driveway and stealing kisses in secret. Hank's heart pounded like he was sixteen and in love, and not the twenty-seven year old police officer he really was. Gary tasted so good, too, like everything Hank had ever wanted. Though he knew the kiss couldn't go on forever, Hank couldn't help wishing that it would. Then Gary rested his hand on Hank's upper thigh and Hank remembered what their initial objective had been. He pulled back.

Gary's face was flushed and his eyes dark with lust. He looked gorgeous. "I don't think I've kissed anybody in a car like since I was like seventeen," he said with a laugh, and Hank almost wanted to laugh that they'd been thinking the same thing. Maybe they had more in common than he'd initially thought. "Hank, I don't know what the hell you're doing to me." But he was smiling. 

He didn't know what to say to that, so Hank just ran his hand through his hair before he could stop himself. Stupid nervous habits. "You ready for that beer now?" he asked, with a glance toward the house that lay in front of them, waiting for their entrance. 

"Yeah, I think I'm a little thirsty," replied Gary with a cheeky grin. He opened his door and got out of the car, stretching his lean body like he'd been in the car for hours instead of just twenty minutes.

Hank led the way into the house, heading for the fridge to grab the beer he'd promised Gary. But he never made it that far, instead finding himself trapped against the counter, Gary's hands on either side of his body. He'd been caught by surprise, which was really the only reason Gary had been able to get him there, because there was no way that Gary was stronger than him.

"Oh, hi there," said Hank, smiling down at him.

"Come to think of it," said Gary, canting his hips so they came into contact with Hank's lower body, "I think that beer can probably wait. Because I've been a bad boy, Sergeant Howard, and I think I need to be punished." 

Unable to stop himself, Hank burst out laughing. "Oh Jesus," he said. "Really, Gary?" he shook his head at the cheesiness of Gary's words. 

"What the hell are you laughing at?" asked Gary, pouting. "I'm trying to seduce you here, and you're just laughing at me?" He stepped back, crossing his arms over his chest and looking put-out.

Still laughing, Hank reached for him, tugging Gary's body close. "You coulda just told me you had a cop kink, Gary. You like handcuffs?" he teased, grabbing Gary's wrist and twisting it around behind his body - not too rough to cause any real pain, but enough to show who was in charge, and enough to cause Gary to gasp a little, his eyes wide. "I know all sorts of tricks, Mr. Thurston. Would you like me to show them to you?" he said huskily. 

He released Gary's hand and instantly, the other man grabbed Hank's belt loops, leaning up to cover his mouth in a kiss that told Hank exactly how eager he was to see the tricks Hank had in store.

*

Gary had never been the little spoon before, so it was a bit strange to have Hank's large body curled around his as they lay in Hank's exceedingly comfortable King-sized bed. It was warm enough that they only had a sheet covering their lower bodies. Sighing contentedly, Gary decided that this was a very nice place to be indeed. He didn't want to leave any time soon.

"You hungry?" asked Hank, his voice husky in Gary's ear. "I can probably rustle up something to eat." He tightened his arm around Gary's chest. 

As Gary tried to decide whether or not he was hungry enough to want to leave the bed, the sound of a slamming door startled the both of them. "What the hell was that?" asked Gary as they both sat up. He thought Hank lived alone.

"Henry David Howard!" shouted an otherwise pleasant sounding female voice. "I'm going to kill you!" The voice was accompanied by the sound of loud footsteps, suggesting that she was stomping angrily through the house. Hank's apartment was small; it wouldn't take her long to find them.

Confused and a little angry, Gary turned to Hank. "Are you MARRIED?" he exclaimed. "You fucking asshole!" He couldn't believe it. 

Hank clamped a hand over Gary's mouth to shut him up, but it was too late; she'd already heard his exclamation. A moment later, the bedroom door was flung open and there in the doorway stood a tall, dark haired woman who looked angry enough to throttle the both of them with her bare hands. 

If she was Hank's wife – well at least he had good taste. She was beautiful. 

"Hey, Jen," said Hank pleasantly. "I didn't hear you knock, or I would have made sure we were decent." He smiled at her, though, and his calm attitude just seemed to piss her off even more. "What's up?" he asked casually. 

If she had been a cartoon character, she would have had steam coming out of her ears. "You know very well what's up!" she shouted, her hands flailing wildly. "You had to go and talk to Evan about me? Hank, I'm a fully grown woman and I can make my own fucking decisions. Stay out of my life!" she finished, glaring angrily at him.

Suddenly it all made sense, and Gary realized that this woman was Hank's sister; the family resemblance was obvious know that he'd figured it out. He relaxed a little, but he was still nervous about her angry. He pulled the sheet further up on his body. 

"It was Nick's idea," said Hank defensively, sounding like a boy who'd been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. "I don't give a shit who you sleep with, but Nick was worried, so I told him I'd do it as a favor. It was just a little chat," 

"It's not—" began Jen. "It's not just sex. Maybe I'm in love with him," she said. "What's Nick going to say to that?" she challenged. She seemed to calm down, though, taking a couple of slow deep breaths and briefly closing her eyes. She opened them again and now seemed fully relaxed. "Sorry, Hank. I didn't mean to interrupt you and your friend here. I think I better go have a chat with Nick," she said thoughtfully. Then she flashed a grin at Gary. "Nice to meet you." She turned and left, closing the bedroom door behind her as she did so.

Once she was gone, Gary let out a breath. "Wow, she's intense, isn't she?" 

Hank laughed. "Wait 'til you meet the rest of my family, babe." He cupped Gary's face and kissed him again. It was just a little peck on the lips, but the meaning behind it – along with the term of endearment Hank had used on him – said so much more.

As Hank slipped out of bed, reaching for his boxers off the floor, Gary decided that no matter what happened or where this ended up, he wasn't going to regret it. 

He also decided, watching the police officer bend over, that Hank had a really nice ass.


End file.
